Ohio's No. 1 elementary school succeeds in an area better known for hardship

Sunday

Jan 29, 2012 at 12:01 AMJan 29, 2012 at 4:45 PM

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio - For those driving into town on the "Dean Martin Highway," old steel mills and run-down houses along a sliver of land between the freeway and the Ohio River are bleak reminders of the city's economic woes. But decades of lost jobs and declining population are Steubenville's past. The city has a new story to tell.

Catherine Candisky, The Columbus Dispatch

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio — For those driving into town on the “Dean Martin Highway,” old steel mills and run-down houses along a sliver of land between the freeway and the Ohio River are bleak reminders of the city’s economic woes.

But decades of lost jobs and declining population are Steubenville’s past. The city has a new story to tell.

It’s a tale of determination and commitment, and it starts anew each morning at Wells Academy, an elementary school housed in a first-floor wing of Steubenville High School on the northern edge of downtown.

Colorful bulletin boards line the classroom walls where attentive boys in the school uniform of khaki pants and polo shirts and girls in plaid jumpers work on math problems.

More than half the students come from poor households, but the trappings of high unemployment and poverty have not slowed them in school. Wells Academy was named Ohio’s No. 1 public elementary school in the state’s first school ranking based on student test scores.

Last year, every third- and fourth-grade student at Wells passed state assessments in math and reading, and more than 70?percent performed at “advanced” levels. The school has earned a 100 percent mark on the tests every year since 2006 after falling just short in a few previous years.

“Why are you here?” Principal Joe Nocera asks students during announcements each morning over the public-address system.

“To learn!” they respond.

“Who is responsible for your learning and your behavior?”

“I am!”

Wells will earn another distinction on Feb. 7 when Gov. John Kasich delivers the annual State of the State address from the school auditorium. The Republican governor is breaking with the traditional Statehouse venue for the speech to highlight the top-rated school, bringing state legislators and other dignitaries to visit one of the most economically distressed areas of Ohio.

But these days, the optimism has spread beyond the school walls. Steubenville is poised for an economic comeback, with jobs and money already coming in from drilling to reach oil and natural-gas reserves buried in shale deep below the region.

Nocera knows a bit about breaking with the past.

From a long line of steelworkers, he spent two summers working in the mill before becoming the first in his family to go to college. He earned a teaching degree and returned to Steubenville, where he was hired in 1976 as the high-school band director. He was principal at another elementary school that has since closed before taking over at Wells three years ago.

Student test scores are the primary reason that Wells became No. 1 in the first-ever statewide ranking. But many factors contributed to its success.

Nocera pointed to a committed staff, small classes, supportive parents and districtwide policies and curriculums that reduce the impact on students who move and simplify the work of teachers and administrators.

The district also puts a heavy focus on its youngest learners. There is districtwide preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds. At Wells, one of the city’s three elementary schools, more than 80 percent of students attend the daylong classes of about 20 students, led by a teacher and aide. More than a decade ago, the district implemented all-day kindergarten to ensure that all students are prepared to start first grade.

But perhaps the lasting legacy was sparked 13 years ago when the district decided to use Success for All, a highly structured curriculum model focused heavily on reading. Students start every day with 90 minutes of reading and language arts, followed by 75 minutes of math.

“We have not jumped on and off every bandwagon of reforms. We found something we felt was working and stuck with it,” Nocera said. “We started with (Success for All) to bring up struggling students and found it was helping high-performing kids, too.”

Melinda Young, the district’s director of programs and Wells’ former principal, said the early years were a bit overwhelming for teachers. There was a lot to learn, and some were dubious about the model. But they had voted to use it and stuck with it.

Now, there is little debate about its effectiveness, which is supported by the banners of school awards hanging above the door to the office: National Title I Distinguished School Award 2009, Education Trust Dispelling the Myth Award 2008, National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, 2003-04 and 2004-05.

And, last year, the district was recognized for being among the most efficient in the state. Spending just $535.31 per student on administrative costs, Steubenville shelled out the least among small, high-poverty urban schools, which average $1,877.62, according to the analysis by Ohio Education Matters.

“The district is very cohesive, principals work very closely, and when you support each other, it allows everyone to succeed,” Young said.

Dr. Mary K. McVey, chairwoman of the education department at nearby Franciscan University, which sends student teachers to Wells and other area schools, said Success for All is “very scripted and explicit and teaches teachers how to use data to make decisions about individual students.”

The district put a lot of time and effort into it, but the key was not giving up in those early years, McVey said.

“Education tends to be, ‘Let’s try this,’ and a few years goes by, and if they don’t see the results, they go with something else. You have to stick with it.”

Wells’ teachers talk about all the students as their own, not just the youngsters in their classroom. If one student falls behind, many teachers get involved. With teachers all on the same page, expectations are clear.

“The kids know what is expected because it is reinforced from kindergarten on,” said Dawn Takach, a Wells teacher in her 13th year.

“If I say ‘active listening,’ they know what I expect — feet on the floor, back straight, full attention.

“I know they are able to achieve whatever standard I set for them.”

Ranking schools

Gov. John Kasich will be giving his State of the State address next week at Wells Academy, the top-ranked public elementary school in the state. At Kasich’s urging, the state for the first time ranked schools top to bottom this year based on a performance index of tests given to students in grades three through eight and on the 10th-grade high-school graduation test.

Here are the top three public elementary, middle and high schools in the state, followed by the highest-rated ones in Franklin County:

Top elementary

1. Wells Academy (Steubenville)

2. Pugliese West Elementary School (Steubenville)

3. Madiera Elementary School (Madiera)

Highest rated in Franklin County

7. Longfellow Elementary Magnet School (Westerville)

17. Scottish Corners Elementary School (Dublin)

18. Deer Run Elementary School (Dublin)

21. Wyandot Elementary School (Dublin)

45. Hilliard Station Sixth Grade School (Hilliard)

Top middle school

1. Indian Hill Middle School (Cincinnati)

2. Rocky River Middle School (Rocky River)

3. Harmon Middle School (Aurora)

Highest rated in Franklin County

6. Karrer Middle School (Dublin)

8. Grizzell Middle School (Dublin)

25. Hastings Middle School (Upper Arlington)

26. Phoenix Middle School (Worthington)

27. Edison Intermediate Middle School (Grandview Heights)

Top high school

1. Solon High School (Solon)

2. Oakwood Senior High School (Dayton)

3. Dublin Jerome High School (Dublin)

Highest rated in Franklin County

13. Reynoldsburg High School eSTEM Academy (Reynoldsburg)

16. New Albany High School (New Albany)

22. Upper Arlington High School (Upper Arlington)

30. Bexley High School (Bexley)

34. Dublin Coffman High School (Dublin)

Source: Ohio Department of Education

ccandisky@dispatch.com

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